British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will say the discovery of a coronavirus vaccine is the “most urgent shared endeavor of our lifetimes” at an international pledging conference on Monday.
The UK is currently the biggest global donor in the efforts to find a vaccine, pledging £388 million ($483 million) for research, according to a Downing Street statement.
“To win this battle, we must work together to build an impregnable shield around all our people, and that can only be achieved by developing and mass producing a vaccine,” Johnson will also say while co-hosting Mondays event.
“It’s humanity against the virus — we are in this together, and together we will prevail.”
The virtual conference is aiming to raise $8 billion, and is being co-hosted by the UK, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Norway, Saudi Arabia, and the European Commission.
The UK money allocated to funding a vaccine is part of a larger fund worth £744 million ($926 million) to “help end the pandemic and support the global economy,” the statement also said.
The World Health Organization will receive £75 million ($93 million) for its critical health systems response.
The UK has also pledged approximately £330 million ($411 million) annually over the next five years to Gavi, the international organisation founded by Bill and Melinda Gates, which improves access to vaccines for children in the world’s poorest counties.
